Lost some local channels

I know you are new to the forum, but it is getting really old now to have every problem with a DTiVo blamed on DirecTV trying to get rid of TiVo customers. This is especially nonsensical now that the THR22 is out there. (I have one and a HR21 and like them both. Neither is a "POS".)

I assume you are in the Denver market - I was looking at the spreadsheet of channels and transponders to see if there was any correlation, but I couldn't find any.

Have you checked the signal strength on all transponders for both tuners on the affected boxes? What happens if, as an experiment, you swap the HR20 and HR10 boxes?

You could get a THR22 if you love the TiVo UI so much. I have checked dbstalk.com and don't see anyone with a similar complaint, and I'd also expect to have seen something in this forum if the problem was widespread.

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It is a Directv mess up. They changed the guide data and it is not compatable with any software version prior to 6.4a. Tivo does not have that version available anymore. So apparently, if you want your locals back you have to get dtvs crappy dvrs. they want to charge you a s&h fee for their screw-up. also want to charge you a rental fee for every receiver you get from them. I have 5 Tivos atm. 4 with software version 6.2a and 1 with version 3.?. so you can see my deal with them is no cheap thing.

No, it is not a "DirecTV mess up". It's an unfortunate but predictable side-effect of those who actively prevent DirecTV from keeping the software compatible with the service. There was undoubtedly a good, technical reason for changing the guide data format, and customers who did not hack their boxes got the update automatically. If you take off the blade guard on the power saw, you lose the right to complain when you get cut.

I had hacked my DTiVos, but never used MRV so I moved to 6.4 when it cam out. At the time, it was said that the new version was to add compatibility with future guide changes. And now, 2-3 years later, it's needed. Your ire might be better directed to TiVo who removed the MRV code from 6.4, but even then it wasn't supposed to be there in the first place. The free ride has ended.

I believe its understood by both Direct TV and Tivo; especially TIVO that their software was modded/tweaked mostly for the better. That alone speaks for countless die hards that continue to utilize the Tivo.

I think most users here understood that they purchased or modded their own boxes and were dinged by the empathy shown by Direct TV when they in fact did make a change to the data stream that would only work with newer software. So what?

There has never been a "free ride" as all of the Tivo users either paid a monthly fee or a lifetime subscription.

Having been on the other side myself owning businesses (or being the "vendor"). What has always mattered is customer service. The existence of said companies is due to the customers not the other way around.

I do understand a common thread these days with self serving customer service customers and endline profitability. Its a working formula today for many vendors when their customers do their own self help / customer service; much more profits for the vendors.

Only thing is that they lose sight of their roots and the base for their own initial venture into their business.

Many customers have lost sight of this and gladly pay their providers $200 or more a month for the privilege of watching television completely bloated with an advertisement or product placement every few minutes.

Definitely need to replace the 6.4a USB drivers with Jamie's . If you unplug the Ethernet / USB connector, the drivers won't try to load. If that's why it is rebooting, unplugging will get you past that. It did for me, and then I uploaded Jamie's drivers over the serial port.

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Yup, Jamie's drivers fixed the reboot. I had skipped this previously because back in 6.2a, his drivers were optional.

Now that I'm using Jamie's drivers I'm getting a message about once a second on the serial port that says: "unlinking :8239f290". If I unplug my USB dongle this goes away. When I plug it back in, the message comes back but with a different number. The eth0 port does not show up in ifconfig.

What I did specifically for the backport drivers is to remove the old
ax8817x.o, usbcore.o, usb-ohci.o, and ehci-hcd.o, then copy in new usbcore.o, usb-ohci.o, and usbnet.o files. I then symlinked usbnet.o to ax8817x.o.

No, it is not a "DirecTV mess up". It's an unfortunate but predictable side-effect of those who actively prevent DirecTV from keeping the software compatible with the service. There was undoubtedly a good, technical reason for changing the guide data format, and customers who did not hack their boxes got the update automatically. If you take off the blade guard on the power saw, you lose the right to complain when you get cut.

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Unfortunately for some of us, this does not seem to be the case. I have two series 2 R10's. I have never hacked them. I don't know how. I don't want to. One runs 6.1, the other 6.3. Directv installed them correctly in my home and they have always made phone calls etc. Directv has been 100% in control of my software all along and even they don't know why I'm not current.

I realize that this was an accident, but yes, for some of us it was Directv's fault. Or whoever pushes/removes the updates. I agree that those who hack their boxes asked for it, but in my case (and others, I assume) DTV owes me a fix or replacements. Not a rental, not a contract, Replacement.

Well, I have one of my Dtivos fixed, and now have no MRV, which is one of the main reasons that I hacked them. I loaded 6.4a with the slicer, and got all but one of the locals back. After running that way for a week or so, I finally decided to reset the guide and channel info. Came home and all is well on that one. in my other unit I think the power supply decided to die. Ugh... It never ends!

I really don't think it will be. This problem with locals began on April 1st for some areas, and on April 18th for Chicago and Indianapolis. It's now the end of April. I don't see anything coming from DTV, especially after I dealt with them on the phone. Let's just say that I don't see their commercial about being rated the best in customer service running any time soon.

If that's why it is rebooting, unplugging will get you past that. It did for me, and then I uploaded Jamie's drivers over the serial port.

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Ugh... This is why mine is rebooting, not a power supply issue. I have to figure out how to do this again, it's been at least 5 years since I've used a serial cable to connect to my TiVo! Are there any good tutorials out there from back in the day?

The other option I have is to pull the drive and re-zipper, with the 6.4a superpatch that is out there.

Updated to 6.4a using InstantCake with PTVNet and all is well...did a reauthorize over DTV's website and ALL locals came back immediately. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get my favorite hack to play nice with 6.4a. I'd tell you guys but I cant' talk about on here. Wish I could cuz I'm sure there's somebody out there that could help me...

As I understand it, the fix is that 6.4a will be made available again.

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Right Steve, but in the meantime we the customer suffer.
Suffer because we don't have programming. (And programming we pay for no less). Suffer because most front line representives have no clue. Suffer because we are not given a clear explanation from anyone at DirecTV as to (a) what happened, (b) why it happened, and (c) a timeline for a fix. Suffer because only those enough with enough time and gumption follow up on internet boards deciphering what is going on. And many people are encoutering this are long time DirecTV customers who don't need,want or should have to pay for the 'latest and greatest' (sic) recievers; rather are content in using their investments they made years ago when they purchased hardware.

They owe a mea culpa to everyone effected by being upfront about the problem and some tangible information as to what they are doing to rectify.

Hello, we are now having this issue in Kansas City MO, on a hdvr2, 6.2 software atm and a netgear fa120 usbnet adapter. Normal local channels are 4,5,9,19,29,38,41 and 62. We no longer are receiving 4(fox), 5(cbs), 9(abc), 19(pbs) or 41(nbs), nor are they listed in the guide at all. I "modified" this unit a long time ago and have never had a problem with it until now and yes it is running 6.2-01-2-151 atm. So, when it happened yesterday I knew the way it was acting that it was a dtv change that had to have caused the issue, because signals lvls are fine and nothing has been changed otherwise, and 2 other newer receivers are still working fine. So I started searching around the usual places on the net an ran across this upgrade to 6.4a stuff and then here is the weird thing. I went into swsystem to make sure what exact version of software I was running and this is what was in there:

If Im not mistaken thats the 6.4a upgrade in there with a date of 4-22-12?? How did this get on my box? I don't have a phone line near this box, it is networked, but my internet routers firewall keeps it blocked from the internet?? I don't ever remember putting 6.4a in there and why would it have that date from last week?? So i guess I can just use the slicer and upgrade it to 6.4a with this file to fix the local chan problem??

So if I run the slicer against that 6.4a file and it upgrades, then all I have to do is rerun the tweak script and maybe the stuperpatchen and it would be close to back where it was before?? Would all my previous recordings still on there survive the process?

I'm holding off on the 6.2a boxes. A year or two ago they scrambled up some guide data, and causes 6.2a boxes to miss some recordings for two or three weeks (never lost channels though). 6.4a was supposed to be necessary to fix that problem, but it went away that time.

I'll miss my mrv'd tivos, but I'm determined to ride this train to the end.

I'm glad I did my own installation instead of using the mover's program when I recently moved. I'm very happy to not be under a contract right now.

I am pretty certain that the issue began when I lost power yesterday and the receiver had to reboot. During the reboot it says that it can't download the complete guide. It says the same thing when I reset the system. I was definitely receiving CBS on Sunday 4/29.

I have not had my TIVO plugged into a phone line for about 1850 days. It was not really necessary and I don't have a convenient phone line.

SO QUESTION:

Should I hook up to a phone line and try to get a SW upgrade now, hold tight for a while, or just switch to FIOS?

No, it is not a "DirecTV mess up". It's an unfortunate but predictable side-effect of those who actively prevent DirecTV from keeping the software compatible with the service. There was undoubtedly a good, technical reason for changing the guide data format, and customers who did not hack their boxes got the update automatically. If you take off the blade guard on the power saw, you lose the right to complain when you get cut.

I had hacked my DTiVos, but never used MRV so I moved to 6.4 when it cam out. At the time, it was said that the new version was to add compatibility with future guide changes. And now, 2-3 years later, it's needed. Your ire might be better directed to TiVo who removed the MRV code from 6.4, but even then it wasn't supposed to be there in the first place. The free ride has ended.

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I have not hacked my TIVO and I have the issue. Why such an apologist for a company with such crappy customer service, and a history of this kind of stuff?